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# Exeter boys lacrosse comes back late to beat Portsmouth (video)
- URL: https://www.nh-highschoolsports.com/exeter-boys-lacrosse-comes-back-late-to-beat-portsmouth-video/
- Published: 2022-05-08T19:05:53.000Z
- Updated: 2022-05-08T19:05:53.000Z
- Description: EXETER - Matt Brewster knows he's got plenty of players who can step up when the Exeter High School boys lacrosse team needs it. The Blue Hawks showed it to everyone else Saturday against Portsmouth. With the Clippers doing their best to lock off Exeter senior Aiden Drunsic, his teammates stepped up
- Author: Joe Marchilena
- Tags: Division I, boys lacrosse, Division II, Exeter, Portsmouth, slider, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-08-18 04:44

EXETER - Matt Brewster knows he's got plenty of players who can step up when the Exeter High School boys lacrosse team needs it.

The Blue Hawks showed it to everyone else Saturday against Portsmouth.

With the Clippers doing their best to lock off Exeter senior Aiden Drunsic, his teammates stepped up to make big plays down the stretch and helped the Blue Hawks rally in the final four minutes for a 10-9 win over Portsmouth.

Adam Neil led Exeter (11-1, No. 2 in the NHHSSports Coaches Poll) with four goals, including the game-winner with 39.3 seconds to play, and the senior made a big defensive play on Portsmouth's final possession to keep the Clippers from tying the game.

Owen Williams added three goals, the last of which was a manup score with 3:26 remaining that tied the game 9-9, and Gavin Lechner had two goals and an assist. Drunsic finished with one goal and Ethan Bernich made five saves for the Blue Hawks.

After taking a 4-0 lead in the first quarter and going up 5-1 early in the second, Exeter, which led most of the day, had to battle back late after Portsmouth (8-1, No. 4) found its groove following a slow start.

"We got up 5-1 and they chisel and chisel and chisel, and now it’s a close game," said Brewster, the Blue Hawks' first-year coach. "We had to battle. Lacrosse is one of those sports where not everything goes your way and that happened (Saturday). They did a very good job. We had some guys step up late in the game that were able to turn the tables for us."

Neil led the way, as he scored off a turnover with 9:27 to play to give Exeter an 8-7 lead and then netted the game-winner before making a game-saving play on defense.

Portsmouth's Nick Smith won the faceoff after Neil's goal and the Clippers took a timeout with 34.7 seconds left. Right out of the break, Zac Amend found Michael O'Neil next to the goal, to the left of Bernich. With Neil the only other defender back, O'Neil passed across the goal to Keigen Delisle, but Neil closed quick and knocked the ball away from Delisle before he could get a shot off.

O'Neil got the groundball, but Portsmouth was unable to get an open look before time expired.

"We were trying to get the proper personnel out there," Portsmouth coach Chad Vischer said of the timeout. "We were hoping to get a better shot. We were trying to get Zac Amend or Dylan (Roelofs) to shoot. They were looking for a perfect shot and with 15 seconds left to go, you’re not going to get a perfect shot."

The play be Neil was a big reason for that.

"Adam played lights out," Brewster said. "He is one of those kids that doesn’t stop moving. He played lights out. There was a play on the defensive end at the end, he’s the slide guy and he ends up taking a guy off his feet and he can’t score the tying goal. That’s a game-saving play."

O'Neil, Amend, Roelofs and Dom Maldari all finished with two goals and an assist for the Clippers while Delisle had a goal and two assists. Skyler Mikolaities made six saves.

Exeter controlled play in the first quarter and jumped out to a 4-0 lead as Portsmouth tried to adjust to the speed of the Blue Hawks.

"We’ve scrimmaged them almost every year in the past and we do the exact same thing," Vischer said. "First quarter, we’re down and then we play with them because we just have to get used to the speed. No matter how much we try to intensify practices and try to go hard, it’s tough to replicate."

O'Neil scored with 1.6 seconds left in the first to get the Clippers on the board, but Drunsic got his lone tally 17 seconds into the second quarter to make it 5-1\. Smith won the faceoff after the goal and Portsmouth was able to maintain possession for most of the next six minutes.

Despite that, the Clippers weren't able to break through until Delisle scored to make it 5-2 with 4:41 left in the half. Amend and Roelofs followed with goals to make it 5-4, but Williams scored with 17.8 seconds to go until halftime to give Exeter a 6-4 lead.

"We settled the ball," Vischer said of the difference in the second quarter. "We were winning faceoffs and we had to settle the ball. We knew that we weren’t going to win or lose 21-20\. You’ve got to possess the ball and be smarter with your possessions, and we weren’t, and then we didn’t clear the ball well in the first quarter. I think they probably got two or three goals off bad clears. They rode us instantly and we don’t generally see that."

Exeter was able to counter that in the third, winning the opening faceoff and keeping the ball in Portsmouth's end until Neil scored with 5:38 left in the quarter to give the Blue Hawks a 7-4 lead. O'Neil got the goal back before the end of the quarter and the Clippers tied it at 7 on back-to-back goals by Roelofs and Amend just 11 seconds apart to open the fourth.

Portsmouth appeared to have all the momentum after Smith won the ensuing faceoff, but after getting knocked down on a pick, Neil jumped back up into the passing lane to steal the ball and then raced the other way to break the tie.

"He got picked off and hit really hard, fell down, got back up and intercepted the pass and took it all the way down," Brewster said. "It was like a 60-yard punt return. That fired up our bench and changed momentum. That was huge."

It took the Clippers just 38 seconds to answer, as Smith won another faceoff and Maldari scored to tie it at 8 with 8:49 remaining.

Maldari then gave Portsmouth its only lead, scoring with 6:15 remaining to make it 9-8 Clippers.

"Portsmouth played great, they’re really well-coached, they passed the ball well, went after groundballs," Brewster said. "They challenged us. That’s something we were looking forward to."